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Apps and Autodidacts: Wayfaring and Emplaced Thinking on iPads

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The Case of the iPad

Abstract

Type in ‘how to become an autodidact’ into Google and the first entry that appears is a blog called Loner Wolf with a list of such famous self-taught masters as Ray Bradbury, Frank Zappa, Stanley Kubrick, Benjamin Franklin, Malcolm X, Albert Einstein and the list goes on, especially with the infinite accessibility to information on the web, autodidactic practices are on the rise and indeed flourishing. Drawing on data collected from an iPad research study, this chapter focuses on one young man, Cole, and his passion for autodidactic practices to think and design texts as a part of his everyday repertoires of practice. Applying Tim Ingold’s environmental, anthropological framings of social practices to theorize iPad thinking and being, we explore how Cole’s hybrid, rhizomatic and web-like navigations point to reframings of literacy practices that are valued by younger people.

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Correspondence to Jennifer Rowsell .

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Rowsell, J., Maues, F., Moukperian, S., Colquhoun, C. (2017). Apps and Autodidacts: Wayfaring and Emplaced Thinking on iPads. In: Burnett, C., Merchant, G., Simpson, A., Walsh, M. (eds) The Case of the iPad. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4364-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4364-2_8

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